He's so freaked about Beamen taking his spot, he'd play with a fractured neck.

I'm going to consult with a player? What are you talking about? I know his answer! And getting killed, what? Maybe, maybe not. One chance in a thousand. They couldn't take a piss in the morning, without the pills. You want to play innocent? Fuck your innocence! You don't want to hear the answer, don't ask the question. I didn't have to ask him, because I knew the answer. These men are football players, they are gladiators. They will not live with shame, like you. And long ago, they made that choice. Not you, not you. Not me. And I'm not going to take responsibility for standing between them... Didn't you ever have a... dream?

I look at those pictures on the wall, it just makes me sad. Its like a room full of ghosts. When I'm done with the game, or the game is done with me, I don't wanna be some ghost up on the wall, I wanna be more than that.

Maybe it's not racism, maybe it's placism. A brother has to know his place, right, coach?

If I play my way, I just might win. Then what the fuck was your life about, anyway?

And with the time I got left, I'm going to play my way. Get my dollars up. So when you go to waive me, trade, injured reserve me, or whatever the fuck y'all do, I'll be worth ten times what I was worth before I got here.

This game has got to be about more than winning. You're part of something here... along the way, I want you to cherish it, because when it's gone, it's gone forever.

Doesn't make sense, my not having a home, a family, a life.

I don't know what to say, really. Three minutes 'til the biggest battle of our professional lives all comes down to today. Now either we heal as a team or we're gonna crumble, inch by inch, play by play, until we're finished. We're in hell right now, gentlemen, believe me. And, we can stay here, get the shit kicked out of us, or we can fight our way back into the light. We can climb outta hell, one inch at a time.

Now, I can't do it for ya. I'm too old. I look around. I see these young faces, and I think, I mean, I made every wrong choice a middle-aged man can make. I, uh, I pissed away all my money, believe it or not. I chased off anyone who's ever loved me. And lately, I can't even stand the face I see in a mirror. You know, when you get old in life, things get taken from you. I mean that's, that's, that's part of life. But, you only learn that when you start losin' stuff. You find out life's this game of inches, so is football. Because in either game - life or football - the margin for error is so small. I mean, one half a step too late or too early and you don't quite make it. One half second too slow, too fast, and you don't quite catch it. The inches we need are everywhere around us. They're in every break of the game, every minute, every second.

On this team, we fight for that inch. On this team, we tear ourselves and everyone else around us to pieces for that inch. We claw with our fingernails for that inch. Because we know when we add up all those inches, that's gonna make the fuckin' difference between winnin' and losin'! Between livin' and dyin'! I'll tell ya this - in any fight, it's the guy who's willin' to die who's gonna win that inch. And I know if I'm gonna have any life anymore, it's because I'm still willin' to fight and die for that inch. Because that's what livin' is! The six inches in front of your face!!

Now, I can't make you do it. You gotta look at the guy next to you. Look into his eyes! Now I think you're gonna see a guy who will go that inch with ya. You're gonna see a guy who will sacrifice himself for this team because he knows, when it comes down to it, you're gonna do the same for him! That's a team, gentleman! And, either we heal, now, as a team, or we will die as individuals. That's football, guys. That's all it is. Now, what are you gonna do?